Is my OB better than most?

Question

I see lots of posts about people heading the hospital because they have some cramping or light bleeding, or maybe they think their water broke, or the baby isn't kicking enough. This seems really strange to me. My OB is on call 24/7. I can call at any time and either speak to the nurse immediately during business hours, or speak with a live person at the answering service and get a call back from the doctor in the middle of the night. If they are concerned, they will bring me into their office, or the ante-natal unit. I'm sure if there was significant cause for concern, they would tell me to get to the ER asap and they would meet me there. Is this not the case with other practices?

Answer 1

My ob is the same, i hope they are all like this.  

Answer 2

my dr also has a 24 hour answering service and someone will call you back , are you saying this is unusual all don't do this ? that's just plain stupid if they don't, do they expect you to wait till you can contact them during business hours  

Answer 3

my ob is the same way, someone is always on call.

Answer 4

most are like yours, it's the ones with no ins. going to clinics or without a Dr at all that don't get that option and are the ones asking!  Or it's the ones to stupid to know any better!

Answer 5

My OB is in private practice.  I can call during business hours and leave a message for the nurse (waiting for them to call back now as a matter of fact).  I can also call the hospital and have my doctor or her on-call paged to call me.  Either way, I never speak to a real person right away.  I've been told when to go straight to the hospital, though, and that my doctor will be alerted on my arrival.  Usually, if I am going straight to the hospital, I call and leave a message that I'm on my way up there so they know.

Answer 6

Mine has that too. However, I went to L&D late at night as per my doctor's orders- 10:00pm because I was having contractions at 22 weeks - it was only cramping for me. That is not something that can be handled on the phone - a fetal monitor was needed and so were IV meds. Many questions about bleeding, cramping, water breaking and kicking cannot be effectively answered on the phone during off hours.

Answer 7

My OB didn't encourage me to run to the hospital for every little thing.  I'd say she's a lot like your OB.  My OB is really good, if a little too busy and rushed.  But everyone goes to her, because she has an awesome reputation.  She knows what she's doing.

Answer 8

This is how my midwife's office worked too.  Even when I was in labor I went into her office to have internals.  Once I finally reached a 4 (12 hours later) she admitted me to the hospital and I could skip triage.  I don't know why everyone rushes to the ER instead of their dr.

EDIT:  Oh I am not at all offended.  I think you have a great dr.  I really appreciated the fact that I didn't have to go the ER for every concern.  I think a good OB/Midwife makes themselves avaliable other then at your appts.

Answer 9

No it is not the case with other practices because when it is time to go home then they will just close everything up, and most people will have to wait the next day or so.

Answer 10

your OB is better than most

buy them a present!

Answer 11

It may not be...It does not mean your OB is 'better' it just means they have different ways of handling this stuff. My OB is the same way, but even if he wasn't I wouldn't think anyone Else's was 'better' or 'worse'

Answer 12

Thank you for posting this.  I also don't understand why everyone has to rush to the ER.  My OB is also on call 24/7 and shares the on-call, after hours time with a long-time colleague and friend of hers, obviously, also an OB.  All I have to do is call the exchange and either my doctor or her friend, the other doctor, calls me back within a few minutes to listen to my concern and let me know what I should do.   Maybe we are lucky.

Answer 13

My OB is the same way...but unfortunately....no, they are not all like that!!  I have had the pleasure, and the misfortune to work with both types!!  That's the way an OB should run their practice, and I wish there were more out there like them!!  Kudos to you for finding one!!

Answer 14

My doctor is the same way.  

Answer 15

My Ob/Gyn's office handles my concerns the same way. I can speak with a nurse, or an on call Dr, and they will either schedule an appt the same day in their office or they direct me to the ER or L&D, whichever my symptoms indicate is necessary.That is why I made them cookies last week =).  

Answer 16

My OB gave me his cell # and told me to call him 24/7 if i have any ques or problems..I say we have good OB's

Answer 17

my ob is also great like that, he is always on call and there when I need him! He makes my husband and I feel like we are his only patients and he has 3 offices AND works at 2 hospitals. He even came into the hospital to deliver my son on a sunday night at 11 pm! I moved away from where we used to live(for my first pregnancy 3 years ago), and now I drive the 45 minutes to see him, I refuse to go to another ob.

When I first got pregnant the first time, I had a different OB, and she sucked! when I was puking my guts out and ended up in the hospital(after I kept calling her office and saying something was wrong, I was puking 50 times a day and lost 10 pds in 5 days), she didn't even check to see if I was alive! that was how I found my current doc, he was the obgyn on call at the hospital I was sent to(up until this point I refused to see a male). I looked him up after I got home and I saw all the great reviews people had posted about him online and I knew he was the doc for me after that LOL

oh and my fave part: never having to wait more than 5 minutes in the waiting room for my appts! and I was seeing him every week:~)

Answer 18

I can call the on-call back up person, but usually they're rude and act like I'm interupting their day, so if I don't have a real emergency, I just wait till I can speak to my real doctor.

Answer 19

My OBGYN was the same way. All I had to do was call if I had a concern. They would give me an explanation for every concern I had. If they have a concern about it they will tell you to come in.

Answer 20

Most OBs have the same services available. I also, do not understand why people in those situations post their questions on YA when they are questions they should be asking their doctors. People may not know that they can call their doctor's office or the answering service.  

Answer 21

Nope, that's what I thought. If this is how it is for you then you are very fortunate. I live in the New York area and I haven't seen any doctors like yours. Mine was unavailable after 6pm. As a matter of fact, when I wanted to know if my water broke, they were all in a meeting and I had to find the number for the ER. He already told me that if anything is wrong just head straight to the ER. I really thought that he was the one that was going to deliver my baby but that was a no no.